The Rise of Autobiographical Medical Poetry and the Medical Humanities

In this fascinating book, Johanna Emeney examines the global proliferation of new poetry related to illness and medical treatment from the perspective of doctors, patients, and carers in light of the growing popularity of the medical humanities. She provides a close analysis of poetry from New Zealand, the U.S., and the U.K. that deals with sociological and philosophical aspects of sickness, ailment, medical treatment, care, and recuperation.

This book succeeds magnificently in illuminating an important slice of the work of a group of contemporary New Zealand poets, of challenging the disparaging views of some of their reviewers, and, most importantly, of adding another volume of fine poetry to their number. The whole book is written with subtlety and lightness of touch, yet a sharply persuasive edge. It draws attention to a topic of great social importance: the need for modern medicine to treat not just the disease, but the whole person, and for medical professionals to find creative ways to communicate with their patients in the most humane ways possible. Mike Hanne, Auckland University, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences

The Rise of Autobiographical Medical Poetry will be recognized as a tour de force in disability studies, for it combines a sure grasp of poetic discourse with a comprehensive understanding of how the confluence between the two is nourished and enlivened through successive generations of poets, doctors, and patients. If the shamans of old were known to be poet-doctors, then Emeney must be understood as their griot in modern guise. She writes everything with lucidity and deep compassion. Ato Quayson, University of Toronto, author of Aesthetic Nervousness: Disability and the Crisis of Representation and Oxford Street, Accra: City Life and the Itineraries of Transnationalism

Emeney's skill in using close reading to reveal the compelling emotional machinery of the poetry is evident. Thom Conroy, Massey School of English and Media Studies, author of The Naturalist

About the Author

Johanna Emeney works as a tutor of creative writing at Massey University in Auckland and as cofacilitator of the Michael King Young Writers' Programme for senior school students. Emeney read English literature and Japanese at Pembroke College, Cambridge. She is the author of two books of poetry, Apple & Tree (Cape Catley, 2011) and Family History (Makaro Press, 2017).

Series

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